Dunham Down Under

Boomerangs, sand tobogganing and dining on kangaroo on list of discoveries.

Unlikely to be described as shy, rising Hardeeville High School senior Ferrante Dunham was enthusiastic in talking about his month-long journey to and through the Land Down Under.

Outgoing, yes. Brave and daring - maybe not so much. Yet what Ferrante got out of traveling to Australia with the People to People Ambassador Program was "empowered."

"I am really terrified of heights," Ferrante said. He joined 32 other young people from the Savannah area and San Diego in rappelling down the face of a cliff rising above the Australian countryside.

"First our leaders gave us some self-empowerment exercises," he said.

One of them was to break a piece of wood in half with their hands. Ferrante watched as several people accomplished the task before he made the attempt. On his second try, he succeeded.

"I stood over it because I saw from the others that it seemed easier. I almost got it the first time. It bent a little but didn't break. Then I really cleared my mind and focused on it and pushed right through it. My hand was like on fire but I did it. I still have that wood," he said. "I kept it to remind me."

Compared to what was ahead for the teen, that was child's play. The young ambassadors picked up rappelling gear and began a hike into the Australian wild, Ferrante said.

"We were told not to leave anything on the trail because that area was really off limits to the public. We had to make sure we didn't drop any papers or crumbs or anything," he said. "We went into this cave. Then we kept walking up and up, staying close to the rock wall. When we got as high as we could, we looked out and we saw the whole town in front of us. Then we looked down and could not believe we were up there - 200 feet high."

Two hundred feet - a 20-story building. Tall buildings often have barriers around the edge of the roof, but there was no barrier on the top of this cliff wall. The only way down was sliding down a rope.

"The first thing I had to do was put my feet against the rock. We did that for about 20 feet and then there was nothing. Then the wind came up and turned me around and I saw the view. You see the city and the sun and it's really so beautiful. It's so awesome," Ferrante said. "Then I got over the view and kept going down. I felt like singing so I did all the way down."

Later in the evening, when the group leaders sat with the teens and discussed the day's events, one asked Ferrante if he felt he could now accomplish anything.

"You know it," he said.

Much of the trip, designed to bring American teens into close contact with host country culture, involved travel from town to city to camp site to farm. Among the lessons he brought back was the value of water.

"They have a lot of respect for water," he said. "Everywhere there are signs - hotels, restrooms - 'Please help save our water.' Some of us when we were at the farm, we decided not to take showers because we didn't want to use up all their water," Ferrante said. "And it has had an impact when we came back because I never actually thought about how much water we use."

Going to Australia was never something Ferrante had considered until he became a member of the National Honor Society. Through that organization, a number of other groups sent along opportunities for high school scholars - one of them from the People to People Ambassador Program.

"I wondered what it was all about and they were going to Australia, so my parents and I went to Armstrong (Atlantic State University) where they held the presentation," Ferrante said. "I thought I'd like to go, so I told my mom and dad, and they were with it, too."

The People to People program was founded by Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956. He believed, according to the organization's Website, "that direct interaction between ordinary citizens around the world can promote cultural understanding and world peace."

Ferrante's "interaction between ordinary citizens" gave him many opportunities to meet new people from two hemispheres and share adventures that gave him a broader view of the world.

His experiences included helping on the Wambiana farm, learning about the aboriginal culture, watching a cow branding, eating a Vegamite sandwich, traveling to Tangalooma Island where "Scooby-Doo" was filmed ("Australians aren't too proud of that," Ferrante said.), tobogganing down sand dunes, touring the Sydney Opera House, seeing crocodiles, tasting kangaroo ("It tastes like chicken."), hiking through a cave, taking a boat to the Great Barrier Reef, and sliding through the air on a skyrail into the Australian rain forest.

Primarily, though, Ferrante came back home with new friends.

"The friends I made I know I won't forget them, and they're not going to forget me, as crazy as I was," he said. "The people were amazing and so were the experiences."